I’ve discussed this idea with a bunch of other people, based on the speculation that wiping out significant portions of the federal government was at least one of the goals of the 9-11 events.
I agree with you here. I think that either some general or such would take over, or some elected politician from some state with a nationally known name (or maybe Mayor Guiliani!) would step in to take charge. And because this country is the way that it is, I expect we’d see a call for civil elections at the earliest possible moment.
If the terrorists had waited a few months, they could have come pretty close to wiping out the entire upper levels of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches by crashing a couple of jet liners into the Capitol during the State of the Union address. If they had also managed to get the “fail-safe” Cabinet member who would not have been in attendance, these questions could have been more than academic.
When I read “Debt of Honor” by Tom Clancy, where something very similar to that happened, it seemed to me that it was very believable, and I wondered what the authorities might be doing to keep something like that from happening. Of course, I never imagined that terrorists would do it with an airliner full of passengers.
All I know is that it is guaranteed that somehow, someway, Jesse Jackson will find a way to fit into the picture when replacing any position of authority.